PKL 9 Ratings: Sahul Kumar stars as Jaipur Pink Panthers beat Bengaluru Bulls

The Panthers advance to the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) final for the first time since 2016.

Jaipur Pink Panthers beat Bengaluru Bulls comprehensively by a 20-point margin (29-49) to qualify for the final for the first time since Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) season 4 where they ended runners-up. Sahul Kumar was the star of the match scoring ten tackle points the joint most in the playoffs match along with Surender Nada.

Here take a look at the player ratings of both teams from PKL 9 semi-final 1:

Jaipur Pink Panthers

Sahul Kumar - 9.5

Sahul Kumar played the match of the season scoring two high-fives in a single match itself. In the first half, he failed to tackle Bharat twice but was equally good at tackling others and putting up a good show

Ankush - 9

Ankush scored his 10th high-five of the season and with this, he now occupies the first spot in the tackle points list with 86 tackle points. His tackle success rate was 100 percent meaning no unsuccessful tackles throughout the match.

Reza - 8.5

Reza has been one of the best cover defenders along with Sunil Kumar. The Iranian scored a high-five with only one unsuccessful tackle.

Sunil Kumar- 5

The Jaipur Pink Panthers captain did not have much work to do apart from leading the team. Sunil Kumar was involved in only two tackles, scoring one tackle point.

https://youtu.be/cXoED04Y8SI

Ajith Kumar - 9

Ajith Kumar scored his third successive Super 10s scoring 13 raid points. He was the team’s lead raider ahead of Arjun Deshwal which does not happen often. 

Arjun Deshwal - 4

It was an off day for the lead raider of PKL season 9 scoring only four raid points in the 16 raids attempted. With Ajith scoring the bulk of the raid points it did not hurt the team much. 

Rahul Chaudhari - 3

The tertiary raider only had two raid points in nine raids attempted. Also, Rahul has two unsuccessful tackles.

Bengaluru Bulls

Bharat - 6

Bharat was the top scorer for Bengaluru Bulls with seven raid points from 16 raids attempted. He did not get enough support from others and was off the mat quite frequently.

Vikash - 4

Vikash Kandola couldn't replicate the performance of the previous match with Jaipur Pink Panthers’ defence setting a trap. In the 15 attempted raids, he could score only five points with one unsuccessful tackle. 

Neeraj Narwal - 5 

Neeraj Narwal, apart from the one super tackle, wasn't involved much in both raiding and defence.

Mahender Singh - 1 

The captain couldn't score a single tackle point with three unsuccessful tackles in the match.

Aman - 7

Aman had picked up form at the right time scoring four tackle points with three unsuccessful tackles.

Saurabh Nandal - 7 

Saurabh Nandal, the team's lead defender, proved himself by scoring four tackle points and ending the league inside the top 10 in the tackle points list.

Ponparthiban Subramanian - 2

Ponparthiban was substituted late in the match in the 35th minute and could score only one tackle point.